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Re: Technological Singularity

Don't forget the fast-approaching biomed aspects of the singularity - giving cellular breakdown due to aging a swift kick in the britches. As for machine intelligence - well, I certainly hope we wise up a little bit before we ask any cybernanny to keep our asses washed for us. I get worried they'll choose a pretty caustic detergent.

Re: Technological Singularity

I read also that the world's drinkable water will not sustain the current growing population and we're all headed into a horrible era of starvation as we can't grow enough to sustain ourselves. The robtos will be waiting to fill the void.

Re: Technological Singularity

No matter how much "artificial intelligence" a computer has it/they couldn't "rule" the world because it/they lack emmotions and desires.
If one shows me attitude I'll show it my nifty 52 piece socket set

Re: Technological Singularity

Originally Posted by mitchymo

It is predicted that around 2045, the point of technological singularity will have been reached, the point in which the intelligence of computors will transcend that of humans. They will no longer require human input in order to improve themselves.

I'm ready

So fucking sick of restarting this computer to update these shitty programs

Re: Technological Singularity

Originally Posted by mitchymo

It is predicted that around 2045, the point of technological singularity will have been reached, the point in which the intelligence of computors will transcend that of humans. They will no longer require human input in order to improve themselves.

Fuck me, I'll be in my late 60s.

So... I hope they get this done sooner, along with teleporting and cars with anti-gravity drives. How about it, engineers?

Re: Technological Singularity

Meh. Not unless there is a sea change in the paradigm of the way computers operate. No matter how sophisticated computer programming gets, or how advanced and fast the hardware technology gets, it is still the same fetch-decode-execute cycle using human written code. That is not intelligence. It is only the appearance of intelligence.

Re: Technological Singularity

I'm not too frightened. They can't be worse than humans and at least robots are logical. I follow the Asimov logic that after a while humans just loose interest in breeding for reproductive reasons and then the robots just quietly look after us as we get older until civilisation is a giant nursing home. Then when the last one leaves, the robots can have the world. No fuss, no muss

Re: Technological Singularity

WE have been designed, and built, by our DNA, supposedly for the sole purpose of ensuring It's survival through Time. The dinosaurs' DNA wasn't as successful. Or ... was it? (Think chickens ...)

WE are now designing, and building, machines to mimic, and (perhaps) surpass, our own limited abilities. We've already "taught" them to think Faster, and more Objectively, than Us, and WE are working Very Hard to get "Them" to program themselves, and even build themselves. WE are Synthesizing the very ways WE learn, react, and even procreate. WE might just succeed beyond Our WILDEST Dreams ... or Desires!

Given the geometric rate of our technological advancements, 2045 may by wishful thinking! Our "creations" may surpass Us sooner than even that!

All the more reasons to ... no matter what ...

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

Last edited by Kyanimal; November 19th, 2012 at 08:23 PM.

WISDOM is the Knowledge you've gained ... After you could have used it!_Me

Re: Technological Singularity

Robots will not reach that stage of advancement without becoming like some kind of human organ. It will be like having an add-on brain; there will be no reason for "technology" to have a separate consciousness from our own. This is my pancreas, my liver, and my ARM-based processor. I can run on glucose, and perform millions of floating point calculations. My visual cortex can also off-load texel processing to the chip. The internet is in my mind.

Re: Technological Singularity

What they'll never have (despite numerous sci-fi film fodder for it) is cognitive sentience, the existence of being.

They WILL always require input, and there'll certainly be no spontaneous or individual thought patterns. You can't program such a thing, it only happens in the realm of fiction and fantasy.

Don't have to program it -- there are already learning programs that pick things up at least as fast as human children.

Whether they'll have sentience depends on your definition of sentience.

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: Technological Singularity

That's where I land. I read a piece by a couple of AI geeks last year, probably in DISCOVER magazine, and this is what they were seeing. One example is how we cling to our cell phones, and how it would be so much more convenient if they could be made part of us. They also foresaw implants that would take the place of various remotes, so we could control everything in the household with thoughts, whether DVD player or oven or thermostat or lights... yet OTOH our houses could become intelligent enough to run themselves according to our habits and desires (already happening). A step beyond that would be extra memory implants that would provide the ability to have recall on demand, just like on a computer.

So my view is that we'll turn into cyborgs, augmenting our brains with hardware and replacing our bodies with robotic pieces. At the same time, we'll continue to make everything we use more intelligent right up to the point that they still need guidance, and no more. The result would be a human race freed of all sorts of limitations, not having to work because our machines do it for us.

And the end of that could be Asimov's nursing-home planet, where at the end someone finally lifts the robots to sentience and they take their place after us.
Or it could go another way, with only the elite few having the super-tech, and the rest of us a slave race, who would rise in a final revolt...

led by a robot.

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: Technological Singularity

^I listened to an interesting article on NPR the other day about a scientist in this field who was interested in expanding the range of human perception. He implanted small magnets under the skin on a volunteer's finger. She described feeling the field around an operating microwave oven. I suppose there will be mechanisms like this, an Artificial Nervous System with a hugely increased range of perception that will augment AI.

Re: Technological Singularity

Here we face a conundrum of capitalism, and a reason it needs replacing: what happens when all production is done by robots, as well as service jobs, and there are no customers left with money?

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: Technological Singularity

Not really. China has such a huge advantage at the moment because they have so many people. We can't have that many people because it's unsustainable. If we could employ the use of robots for the manual labour that people in the west are not as willing to do or it's not safe enough to do than people can be employed in more of an office environment

Re: Technological Singularity

Originally Posted by goldenmoth

Not really. China has such a huge advantage at the moment because they have so many people. We can't have that many people because it's unsustainable. If we could employ the use of robots for the manual labour that people in the west are not as willing to do or it's not safe enough to do than people can be employed in more of an office environment

Capitalists will employ robots wherever a profit can be made. I expect we'll see automated McDonalds soon enough; there are already automated lawnmowers and carpet sweepers. Trusses for construction used to be labor-intesive; the plant we had here shut down when a competitor went robotic, dropping the workforce from thirty-two employees to two.

And how will an entire population do office work? What is there to be done that takes so many hands? There used to be people who take inventory; at many places that's all robotic/computer now.

We are headed for a society where no one has to labor, and few have to do office work.

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: Technological Singularity

Originally Posted by Kulindahr

Capitalists will employ robots wherever a profit can be made. I expect we'll see automated McDonalds soon enough; there are already automated lawnmowers and carpet sweepers. Trusses for construction used to be labor-intesive; the plant we had here shut down when a competitor went robotic, dropping the workforce from thirty-two employees to two.

And how will an entire population do office work? What is there to be done that takes so many hands? There used to be people who take inventory; at many places that's all robotic/computer now.

We are headed for a society where no one has to labor, and few have to do office work.

People will busy themselves with ever more elaborate occupations. When a basic 2000 square foot house can be prepped by robots in a factory, and then assembled by robots on site, for under $10 000, people will still earn a living by completing hand-carved custom kitchen cabinets, and mouth-blown custom glass light fixtures; all the sorts of one-of-a-kind artistic things where we retain the competitive advantage.

No one makes a living hauling ice any more; we have refrigeration. Those people's time is freed to do more creative more valuable things than sawing blocks of river ice and towing them with a horse to people's homes.

Re: Technological Singularity

Another aspect is all the advanced work being done with prosthetics. We already have 'bionic' arms that are controlled by sensors implanted in chest muscles. Think about moving an arm that is no longer there, and the implant will react, with the same speed, Plus much more strength, than the Natural arm that used to be there!

"The Six Million Dollar Man" is no longer fiction! And, is much cheaper these days!

We also have cortical implants that can control computers, voice synthesizers, wheelchairs, etc., with considerable accuracy. We've already successfully interphased with machines!

Now, let's add all the progress with AI, and we're already quite close to the "Technological Singularity"!

All in all, it's really not all that much of a stretch to realize that 2045 might be the Long shot at achieving non-organic Sentience!

The main question is ... What is that going to mean for "Us"?

All the more reasons to ... no matter what ...

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

WISDOM is the Knowledge you've gained ... After you could have used it!_Me

Re: Technological Singularity

Originally Posted by bankside

People will busy themselves with ever more elaborate occupations. When a basic 2000 square foot house can be prepped by robots in a factory, and then assembled by robots on site, for under $10 000, people will still earn a living by completing hand-carved custom kitchen cabinets, and mouth-blown custom glass light fixtures; all the sorts of one-of-a-kind artistic things where we retain the competitive advantage.

No one makes a living hauling ice any more; we have refrigeration. Those people's time is freed to do more creative more valuable things than sawing blocks of river ice and towing them with a horse to people's homes.

And when robots can do one-of-a-kind items?

Besides, what will the people with no artistic talent do?

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: Technological Singularity

My mum refuses to use self-service checkouts in supermarkets, because she says they take jobs away from people.

Exactly why I refuse to buy light bulbs. Puts candle-makers out of business. Same thing with cars; puts horse-shoers on the dole.

Originally Posted by Kulindahr

And when robots can do one-of-a-kind items?

Besides, what will the people with no artistic talent do?

Not sure. Own plantations full of robots? Have robots tend to some subsistence pigs, chickens and vegetable gardens? Ensure that subsistence means "a banquet when you like." Catered by robots of course.

Re: Technological Singularity

My mum refuses to use self-service checkouts in supermarkets, because she says they take jobs away from people.
On the one hand, she is absolutely right, i mean we all need jobs.

On the other hand, having machines and computors doing our jobs for us, frees us all up to pursue life enjoyment. We could then job share, affording a drop in income. House prices will be cheap to buy or rent, as they will be built by moulds in one piece etc. This cheap house production will result in a huge drop in the cost of living.

If she worries about that, she'll really freak when grocery stores where everything is in the warehouse and you just enter your order become common. Someone out there has already built one; you can place your order on the internet, then drive to the store, where by the time you get there the robots have filled your list and bagged it all for you to just pick up. The only part that's not automated is produce, because people like to pick out their own vegetables and stuff.

As for houses, I don't think they'll be cast in one piece. I think we'll see giant LEGO blocks, so someone wanting a house can build what he wants, scan it, send it in, and the robots will load the required piece, show up, and put it together. Having everything built from standard components that are simple to put together would cut cost right at the start -- in fact, make the giant LEGOs the right size, and people could put their own houses together.

Originally Posted by mitchymo

In response to others about the merging of man and machine. The source which i got technilogical singularity as a subject, also mentions the production of bionic eyes within the next 35yrs. They may be able to see infrared and ultraviolet, and have vision like a hawk. Imagine looking out the window and being able to read the subtitles on the tv of the neighbour across the street. That'd be mad.

I read that about eyes -- it's freaky. I read the same about hearing, basically bionic ears. But the bits that seem to me the most as a step toward merging man and machine are implants against the skull for memory, for controlling other devices, whatever. The interesting thing about those is that you wouldn't be able to buy a module that would make you able to speak Russian or Cherokee all at once, because everyone's brain waves are subtly different, so your brain would have to learn to interface (OTOH, one geek argues that once a master implant is installed and the brain learns to talk to it, additional modules would be able to just drop knowledge on you).

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: Technological Singularity

Originally Posted by bankside

Exactly why I refuse to buy light bulbs. Puts candle-makers out of business. Same thing with cars; puts horse-shoers on the dole.

Not sure. Own plantations full of robots? Have robots tend to some subsistence pigs, chickens and vegetable gardens? Ensure that subsistence means "a banquet when you like." Catered by robots of course.

I think at that point our society will have to undergo a phase change, where robotic production is owned by all, and that system provides everyone with basic housing, food, clothing, transportation, etc. There would be no poverty in the sense we know it. Status would switch from the accumulation of things to the honing of skills and talent. Money might or might not persist; hard to say until we get close to the foundation of that, the joint ownership of basic production.

The qualifier here is that we need a virtually infinite energy source....

"Thirty-one* states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. "

Re: Technological Singularity

Originally Posted by Kulindahr

I think at that point our society will have to undergo a phase change, where robotic production is owned by all, and that system provides everyone with basic housing, food, clothing, transportation, etc. There would be no poverty in the sense we know it. Status would switch from the accumulation of things to the honing of skills and talent. Money might or might not persist; hard to say until we get close to the foundation of that, the joint ownership of basic production.

The qualifier here is that we need a virtually infinite energy source....

Just reduce the average albedo of the earth; we discard most of the solar energy available to us through terrestrial reflection. Energy is, for our purposes, infinite.